Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

Noting that we are nearing the end of the hour, I would like to ask two questions in this block which are quite different in nature, so I will seek to separate them as I go along. The first is a question to the minister in his capacity as the Minister for Defence Industry and it relates to the answer he just gave in respect of the successful Rheinmetall tender for the Land 400 program. I'm not sure that people in Victoria would regard themselves as winners in respect of that. Ultimately, it leads to the observation that, particularly in respect of Land 400, there was a high degree of state-on-state competition, which struck me as being counterproductive from the point of view of the national interest. Indeed, that has been reflected in a range of other programs that have been tendered in recent years.

First and foremost—I'm sure the minister would agree; indeed, it was in his answer—the basis on which procurement should be done and tenders should be awarded is what serves the need of the ADF, the capability for Australia as a nation. It ought not to be based on state considerations. Yet there is intense competition between the states in respect of this. It is something that we read and see a lot of in relation to the United States, but it's a much bigger economy, a much bigger defence buy. It strikes me that we can't afford the luxury of having that kind of competition play out in Australia, where, as we got to in the situation with Land 400, there was a definite winner and a definite loser on a state basis. In effect it became a competition, in part at least, between the Victorian government and the Queensland government. So the question is: what is being done by the federal government to seek to reduce that, to calm those waters, if you like?

It's only through leadership from the federal government that we're going to see an end to that practice.

In a completely different vein and with a change of gears, I'd like to ask the minister a question in his role today representing the Minister for Defence. On 24 May, an article that was released as the result of an FOI application indicated that, within the ADF, there have been 265 reports of sexual misconduct in the last year, which is the highest level in five years. I ask this in a very sober way and don't seek to make any political gain out of it, because I would acknowledge that this has been a difficult issue that the ADF has faced over many years—indeed, the ADF has put in place a whole lot of measures to try and deal with this over the journey. But it is concerning that a graph, if you like, of bad behaviour, which had been trending in the right direction, has now had an uptick, as has been reported and as is borne out by that FOI request.

In those 265 reports of sexual misconduct in the last year, 50 included sexual assaults and 28 included aggravated sexual assaults where the perpetrator was violent, had a weapon or committed the act in front of others. Overwhelmingly, the men and women of our Defence forces behave entirely appropriately and represent our nation in the most superb and excellent way. I know you and I, Mr Deputy Speaker Buchholz, saw that firsthand as we experienced Exercise Talisman Sabre last year. I think, in a sense, all of those people who had their professionalism on show would want to know that these issues are being dealt with in the most thorough, transparent and, within reason, expeditious way possible. I'm sure the minister will provide a confirmation that the government obviously has a zero tolerance when it comes to sexual misconduct within the ADF. I would like to hear from the minister his sense of whether or not the cultural change which has been pursued within the ADF, with quite a degree of intent, as I said earlier, has gone to the extent necessary. Finally, does he have any explanation for this increase in cases of sexual misconduct? If not, can he take that on notice?

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